I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.
March 7, 1999
By Devlyn Brooks
The state's top-rated Class A Red Lake Warriors advanced to their fourth straight Section 8A tournament with a 64-47 win over the Blackduck Drakes Saturday at BSU Gymnasium.
The win gave the Warriors their fourth straight Sub-Section 29A crown, and its fifth in six years.
They also upped their record to 23-1, with their only defeat coming at the KMOX Shootout in December to Illinois state champion Warsaw.
Delwyn Holthusen led the Warriors with a big day in the paint, scoring 19 points. And perimeter man Gerald Kingbird added another 15, although many added another came late in the game when he was sent to the free throw line.
Surprisingly, No. 2 guard Harold Graves finished with 16 points, eight of which were an important part of a Warrior's first quarter run of 21-6.
The Warriors -- who escaped with a 84-81 win earlier this season -- knew Blackduck guards Dustin Anderson and Jon Ross could be offensively dangerous and they smothered them from the start. This changed the focus of Blackduck's offense, and destroyed their rhythm.
The Drakes suffered from ice cold shooting in the first, making only one field goal in the stanza, with only one coming from the backcourt duo.
"We just didn't shoot the ball well all night," retiring Drakes coach Jim Ross said. "They killed us on the boards too. Those were the two big things."
Ross is retiring after 30 years of coaching, 28 years of which has been served in Blackduck.
The Warriors, however, received big quarters from Holthusen down low and Graves from the three-point line in the first.
Graves canned two treys in the opening quarter that helped ignite the 21-6 explosion, and Holthusen had eight in the period.
The Drakes recovered slightly in the second, outshooting the Warriors and cutting into their lead by three points, to make it a 31-19 Red Lake lead at halftime.
Holthusen again led the Warriors with six points in the stanza.
Behind the shooting of forward Andy Pomp, Blackduck continued its run after the half.
Pomp got to the line eight times, converting six, to lead Blackduck to a 17-14 lead in the period, while holding Red Lake to only nine shots and four buckets in the third.
In the fourth, Red Lake's Kingbird took control of the game, scoring 11 points -- six from the line -- and expertly managing the clock.
Graves also had another big quarter, scoring six points, mostly off of fast break layups.
"(In the second and third quarters) they just started hitting some of their shots," Warriors assistant coach Bill Rutledge said amid the post-game celebration. "(To seal the win) we needed to get back into our offense. When we got ahead, they started to play too much one-on-one."
With the win, Red Lake advances to the Section 8A semifinals to be held Thursday at the University of Minnesota Crookston. The Warriors will play the winner of Saturday's Sub-Section 30A title game -- either Win-E-Mac or Fertile-Beltrami -- at 4 p.m at UMC with the other semifinal to follow at 8 p.m.
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